Buttonhole attachment for sewing machines



Jail. 14, 1969 R-HAPPE ETAL 3,421,463

BUTTONHOITIE ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed Jan. 2, 1968 Sheet of 5 INVENTORS Reynold Hoppe Werner von Rymon, deceased Wi by Korolo von Ryrnon, Execufrix Jan.14, 1969" R.HAPPEIETAL 3,421,463

BUTTONHOLE ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed Jan. 2; 1968 Sheet. 2 of s -,INVENTORS I Reynold H'appe I I l Werner von Rymon, deceased wmless by Karola von Rymon, Executn'x Jan. 14, 1969 R. HAPPE ETA!- 3,421,463

BUTTONHOLE ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed Jan. 2. 1968 Sheet 3 of 5 BY 3 4%45 fiim 'QATTORNEX.

United States Patent 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A buttonhole attachment for zigzag sewing machines including a frame removably mounted in the sewing machine bed over the slide plate. The attachment includes an endwise and laterally movable work shifting unit mounted on the frame and driven by a rack and pinion arrangement in turn driven by the feed-dog. The path that the work shifting unit follows is determined by a template unit fixedly mounted on the work shifting unit. The template unit includes a manually adjustable end section the position of which, relatively to the length of the template unit, may be determined by the diameter of a button placed between a fixed and movable jaw, the movable jaw being connected to the manually adjustable end section.

Background of the invention The prior art discloses a number of different forms of buttonhole attachments for sewing machines which, conventionally, are driven by the needle-bar as it reciprocates in endwise fashion. The vast majority of such attachments disclose means for imparting to the work shifting member an oscillatory movement in addition to its motion along a closed path dictated by a template mounted in the attachment. One of the prior art disclosures, United States Patent No. 3,127,856, Apr. 7, 1964-, Bunsaku Taketomi, shows a form of a buttonhole attachment for use with a zigzag sewing machine which eliminates the need for including mechanism in the attachment for imparting the required oscillatory motion to the work shifting member. However, the Taketomi attachment must use additional mechanism, beyond that normally utilized in the sewing machine, to drive the work shifting member. Such additional mechanism of course adds to the cost of manufacture and increases the maintenance problems. Furthermore, the depresison required in the bed of the Taketomi device'is unsightly and tends tointerfere with manipulation of work material when the buttonhole device is not in use and is removed from the sewing machine. To cover the depression would require a plate of some variety, and means to remove it, thereby adding further to the cost of manufacture and inconvenience to the operator.

Summary of the invention The present invention comprises a feed-dog actuated buttonhole attachment for a sewing machine and includes a frame removably mounted in the bed of the sewing machine over a substantial section of the usual slide plate aperture. An elongated shiftable unit including a work shifting member is mounted on the frame for endwise and lateral movements dictated by the shape of a permanently installed template carried by the unit. One end section of the template is. adjustable thereby toadjust the operative length of the template, the end section being controlled by a manually operable movable jaw which cooperates with a fixed jaw to hold a button therebetween, which button acts as a gauge to determine the length of the template and therefore the length of the sewn buttonhole.

The present invention avoids the drawbacks of the prior 3,421,463 Patented Jan. 14, 1969 art as discussed above by providing a buttonhole attachment of the class described that is driven by the feed-dog of the sewing machine, thereby requiring no additional mechanism to drive the attachment. The attachment of the present invention is removably mounted on the bed of the sewing machine over the slide plate opening thereby obviating the need for additional mounting means as required by the T aketomi buttonhole attachment.

In addition the present invention provides a convenient means for the operator to adjust the template for the length of the seam required for any particular buttonhole merely by placing the corresponding button between the jaws of the adjusting mechanism provided. A further convenience to the operator provided by the present invention is the provision in either of the embodiments disclosed of easily operable work clamping means which permits the operator very quickly to prepare the work material for sewing.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved buttonhole attachment for use with sewing machines.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved feed-dog driven buttonhole attachment for use with a zigzag sewing machine.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide in a buttonhole attachment for a sewing machine an improved mechanism for gauging the length of the buttonhole seam.

Having in mind the above and other objects that will be evident from an understanding of this disclosure, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts as illustrated in the presently preferred embodiment of the invention which is hereinafter set forth in such detail as to enable those skilled in the art readily to understand the function, operation, construction and advantages of it when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is an elevational view, partly in section, of a sewing machine carrying the buttonhole attachment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the buttonhole attachment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view, in section, of the buttonhole attachment shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view, in section,-of the buttonhole attachment shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an end elevational view, in section, of the buttonhole attachment shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is the same view as that shown in FIG. 3 but with the rack displaced laterally from the position depicted in FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view of the work supporting member and the clamp therefor shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the buttonhole attachment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a presser-foot and an auxiliary presser-foot utilized with the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 7.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring to the drawings there is shown in FIGS. 1-6 one embodiment of a work shifting attachment 10 for use with a zigzag sewing machine having a looper mechanism indicated generally at 12, drive mechanism indicated generally at 1-4 including a feed dog 16, a presserbar 18 for holding a presser-foot 20 and a needle-bar 22 for holding a thread carrying needle 24. The described thread concatenating elements function in the usual manner in cooperation with conventional zigzag mechanism,

not illustrated in the drawings, to form a zigzag pattern of stitches. The work shifting attachment is adapted for mounting on a bed 26 which houses the looper and drive mechanisms and is formed with an aperture divided into a throat plate aperture 28 and a slide plate aperture 30. The aperture 28 is normally closed by a throat plate 32 which throat plate is formed with an aperture to accommodate the endwise reciprocation of the needle 24 and slots through which the feed dog 16 works in opposition to the presser-foot to transport work fabrics in stitching in the usual manner. A throat and slide plate arrangement such as the one described briefly herein is described in greater detail in for example the United States Patent No. 2,920,593, issued on Jan. 12, 1960, to R. E. Johnson. The work fee-ding mechanism 14 is of the type referred to in the art as a four motion drop feed mechanism in that the feed dog 16 is lifted and lowered into engagement with fabrics beneath the presser-foot 20 and advanced and returned along the line of feed, the feed-dog being dropped beneath the upper level of the throat plate 32 during the return motion. The aperture is normally completely closed by a slide plate 33, however, when the work shifting attachment 10 is mounted on the bed 26, the slide plate 33 is slid back towards the operator so that the trailing end section extends over the edge of the bed, as can be seen in FIG. 1. The throat and slide plates rest on a ledge 35 that substantially surrounds the apertures 28 and 30.

The work shifting attachment 10 includes a support frame 34 which is a substantially flat plate formed as noted below. The frame 34 is formed at its forward end section with two cars 36 one on each side of the frame. The ear 36 present a front face 37 and a rear face 39 on the leading and trailing end walls, respectively, of the ears. To the bottom surface of each car 36 is secured a foot 38 which foot includes a flat throat plate engaging toe section 40 and a slide plate engaging heel section 41. Each longitudinal side of the frame 34 is upturned at 42 and a substantially H-shaped apertured cover plate 44 is fitted over the upturned sides 42 and secured thereto by screws 46. The frame 34 is formed with a substantially centrally located rectangular opening 48 adapted to receive a sidewise movable plate 50 formed with upturned oppositely disposed end section 52 and a forked ear 54 in each corner section thereof but raised slightly above the upper surface of the plate 50. The upper surface of the plate 50 when received by the opening 48 lies flush with the upper surface of the frame 34. The forked cars 54 slidably receive the shank of shoulder screws 56 secured to the flame 34. The plate 50 is smaller in width than the opening 48 in the frame 34 thereby permitting sidewise movement of the frame in the opening. Secured to the inner surface of one of the upturned sides 42 of the frame 34 is a snap spring 58 which holds the sidewise movable plate 50 in one or the other of its two possible positions, as explained below.

The sidewise movable plate 50 receives a rectangular substantially flat rack support plate 60 which is endwise slidable thereon for movement toward and away from the operator. The rack support plate 60 is formed with a rectangular opening 62 and a 'groove '64 in its upper surface at the forward and section of the plate. Secured to the rack support plate 60 is a substantially flat rectangular rack plate 66 formed with a rectangular aperture 68 having a set of teeth 70 formed on the wall thereof. The teeth 70 extend along substantially the entire length of the wall of the rectangular aperture '68 leaving only a small section in the rear segment of the wall of the aperture without teeth, as seen in FIGS. 3 and 6.

To supply continuity for the teeth 70 there is provided an adjustable unit 72 which includes a substantially L-shaped plate 74 having a rectangular leg 76 which leg is formed with a groove 78. Secured to the leg 76 at the rear of the groove 78 is a plate formed with teeth 80 which teeth provide the continuity for the tee h 70. The

upper section of the plate 78 is formed into a handle 82 angled about 45 from the vertical and to which is secured one end of a coil spring 84. The other end of the coil spring 84 is secured to a substantially L-shaped handle 86 which handle is pivotally mounted on spaced apertured ears 88 of the plate 74. Secured to the lower leg of the L-shaped handle 86 is a locking bar 90 formed near each end with a toe 92 that depends from the bottom of the bar. The toes 92 are aligned with two spaced rows of apertures 94 formed in a plate 96 having a depending tail section 98 that is secured to the plate support 60 and the rack 66 and an upturned leading wall 99. The plate 96 is formed with a centrally located rectangular opening 100 which accommodates the plate 74. By pressing the handles 82 and 86 together against the bias of the spring 84 the toes 92 may be pulled out of the mating apertures 94 and the unit 72 may be moved in the opening 100 toward or away from the operator thereby moving the teeth 80 in the aperture 68 between the teeth 70. Since the teeth 80 of the unit 72 serve to connect the U-shaped row of teeth 70 to provide a continuous row of teeth, movement of the unit 72 will in effect lengthen or shorten the continuous row of teeth 70 and 80 depending upon the direction of movement of the unit.

To the center of the connecting arm 102 of the H- shaped cover plate 44 there is secured a cylindrical shaft 104 that depends from the cover plate and is formed at its lower end section with a reduced section 106 which reduced end section tracks the grooves 64 and 78. To the upper section of the shaft 104 and contiguous with the ceiling of the arm 102 there is mounted a collar 108 concentric with the shaft 104. Pivotally mounted at one end on the collar 108 is a ratcheting arm 110 having a depending support arm 112 on which is mounted a leaf spring 114. The ratcheting arm 110 includes a finger operated handle 116 that extends upwardly through an arcuate slot 118 formed in one leg of the H-shaped cover plate 44. Also concentrically mounted on the shaft below the collar 108 are a ratchet wheel 120 and pinion 122, in that order. The free end of the leaf spring 114 operatively engages the ratchet wheel 120. Another leaf spring 124 is secured by one end to the ceiling of the cover plate 44. The free end of the leaf spring 124 (FIGS. 3 and 6) operatively engages the ratchet Wheel 120 in such a manner as to prevent the ratchet from turning in the clockwise direction, as viewed from above. With the attachment 10 assembled as shown in the drawings, as the shaft 1 is rotated the pinion 122 operatively engages the teeth 70 and 80 and moves the rack 66 along its predetermined path.

Mounted on one side of the floor of the support frame 34 is a ratcheting unit 126 including an endwise reciprocable arm 128 slidable between three spaced studs 130 which rise from the floor of the frame and which serve to keep the arm 128 moving in a straight line. The endwise r eciprocable arm 128 is formed at one end section with an apertured hooked section 132 and intermediate its ends is formed with an extension to which is secured an arm 134 that supports a pivotally mounted pawl 136. The pawl 136 is mounted operatively to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel 120. Between the pawl supporting arm 134 and the hooked end 132 of the arm 128 there is secured a leaf spring 138 the free end of which engages and biases the pawl 136 inwardly into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 120, as seen more clearly in FIGS. 3 and 6. The forward end extremity of the endwise reciprocable arm 128 is pivotally connected to a substantially L-shaped rock arm 140 which is formed with an actuating foot 142 at its free end extremity. The foot 142 extends in the path of and above an actuating bar 144 secured to the feed dog 16. Connected by one end to the hooked end section 132 of the arm 128 is a coil spring 146 which is connected by its other end to an aperture in the floor of the supported frame 34 thereby to bias the arm 128 away from the operator.

In the embodiment of the present invention disclosed in FIGS. 1-7 a rectangular work supporting member 148 is formed with a rectangular opening 150 and a groove 152 in the oppositely disposed elongated sections of the wall that forms the opening 150. The groove 152 receives a cloth work material wire clamp 154 formed with two spaced, parallel finger-grip end sections 156. The clamp 154 is utilized to clamp a cloth work piece 155 between the clamp and the work supporting member 148 as seen more clearly in FIGS. 3, 6 and 7. The work supporting member 148 is secured to the leading end extremity of the rack 66 by screws 158. In the embodiment of the present invention disclosed in FIGS. 8 and 9 all of the mechanism described above is identical except for the work supporting member 148 and its cloth work material wire clamp 154. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 the arrangement utilized to support the work material in which the button hole is to be sewn includes a paddle 160 formed on its upper surface with a plurality of small upwardly extending points 162 that cover a substantial portion of the paddle surface, and a rectangular opening 164. Releasably mounted on the presser-foot 20 is an auxiliary rectangularly shaped presser-foot 166 formed with a rectangular opening 168 that receives the presser-foot 20 in a frictional grip suflicient to support the auxiliary presser-foot 166. The auxiliary presser-foot 166 provides the larger cloth contact area necessary to hold the cloth work piece in place as the paddle moves along its predetermined buttonhole sewing path. The points 162 prevent slippage of the cloth work piece relatively to the paddle 160 and the auxiliary presser-foot 166.

Turning now to the operation of the work shifting attachment 10, to install the same, an operator need merely move the conventional slide plate 33 a short distance away from the throat plate 32, actuate the controls (not shown) which elevate the throat plate 32 to a position which is above the range of the feed dog and then slide the feet 38 onto the support ledge 35 taking care to slip the section 40 of the feet 38 under the trailing end of the throat plate. Thereafter, the operator must lower the throat plate to its normal cloth feed position thereby bringing the trailing end of the throat plate 32 down against the upper surface of the section 40 and move the slide plate 33 towards the throat plate so that the heels 41 of the feet 38 slip under the leading extremity of the slide plate. In the operative position described the front faces 37 have been brought up flush against the trailing end wall or face of the throat plate while the leading end wall or face of the slide plate 33 has been brought up flush against the rear faces 39 of the cars 36. Thus, the forward extremity of the frame 34 is captured and held in place against movement in any direction by the ledge 35 and the throat and slide plates 32 and 33, respectively. This arrangement serves to hold the entire attachment in place on the bed as the buttonholing operation proceeds. Should the throat plate not be of the elevator type herein described the attachment may be mounted simply by slipping the section 40 under the trailing extremity of the throat plate and proceeding as described above. It is here noted that even though the teeth of the feed dog 16 in the above described operating position extend above the throat plate they do not come into contact with the cloth work material carried by the work supporting member 148 in the first embodiment or the paddle 160 in the second embodiment because the member 148 and the paddle 160 are designed to carry the cloth work material above the feed dog range.

After the attachment 10 is mounted in the sewing machine bed the wire clamp (first embodiment) is removed and the cloth work piece 155 to be sewn is placed on the work supporting member 148 and 'fastened thereto by the wire clamp 154. When the resilient wire clamp is pressed into place on the work supporting member 148 it forces a peripheral strip of the cloth work piece 155 into the groove 152 between the wire clamp and the groove where it is held by the tension exerted by the clamp. In the second embodiment the attachment 10 is mounted on the sewing machine bed in the same manner as is the first embodiment but the auxiliary resser-foot 166 is mounted on the conventional resser-foot. Thereafter the cloth work material is place-d on the paddle 160 and the presser-foot 20 is moved downwardly to bring the auxiliary presser-foot into clamping engagement with the work material.

With the attachment 10 and the cloth work piece in position for sewing the operator then places a button, having a diameter measurement equal to the buttonhole length desired, on the plate 96 between the wall 99 and the locking bar 90. The handles 82 and 86 are then grasped and manipulated to bring the locking bar up against the button to sandwich the button between the wall 99 and the locking bar 90. Movement of the locking bar to the desired position serves to position the teeth 80 to provide the button hole length desired.

When the sewing machine is put into operation the thread concatenating elements operate in the conventional manner to produce a row of zigzag stitches as illustrated in FIG. 6. The feed-dog 16 carrying the actuating bar 144 also operates in the conventional manner, the feed-dog being given the usual four motion movements. During the rising movement of the feed-dog the actuating bar 144 contacts and pivots the actuating foot 142 upwardly. During the falling movement the bias exerted by the coil spring 146 pivots the actuating foot 142 downwardly to its original position. The pivotal movements of the foot 142 reciprocate the arm 128 of the ratcheting unit 126 thereby to rotate the shaft 104, in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from above, through the intermediacy of the ratchet wheel 120 and the pawl 136. As the shaft 104 rotates it in turn rotates the pinion 122 which engages the teeth 70 in the rack 66 thereby to drive the rack in a step-by-step fashion along its predetermined path. Assuming that at the beginning of the buttonholing sewing cycle the pinion is positioned intermediate the ends of one of the longitudinal sides of the buttonhole shaped row of teeth 70, as the pinion rotates the rack 66 is moved end- Wise toward or away from the operator to form one or the other side of the rectangular buttonhole path. As the pinion engages the teeth 70 at either end of the rectangular aperture 68 the reduced end section 106 follows one or the other of the grooves 64 and 78 thereby to pull the rack 66 toward one or the other of the upturned sides 42 of the support frame 34. The snap springs 58 serve to hold the rack on one side or the other of the support frame 34 while the pinion engages the teeth 70 on the corresponding sides of the aperture 68. The FIGS. 3 and 6 show the rack in the two lateral positions and the dashes 172 indicate what would be the resultant shape of the accumuated stitches for-med at the particular point in the buttonholing cycle of the rack indicated by its position relatively to the frame in each of the figures.

To enable the operator manually to rotate the ratchet wheel 120 and position the work supporting member 148 or the paddle 160 relatively to the needle 24, ratcheting arm 110 and its handle 116 are provided. By gripping the handle 116 and reciprocating it in the arcuate slot 118 the shaft 104 is rotated. As the arm 110 is pivoted away from the operator (to the left as seen in FIG. 3) the free end of the spring 114 engages one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel 120 and rotates the ratchet wheel in the counterclockwise direction (FIG. 3). When the arm 110 is returned towards the operator the free end of the spring 114 slides over the teeth of the ratchet wheel 120 without rotating the wheel back in the clockwise (FIG. 3) direction. In this manner the operator may rotate the ratchet wheel in one direction only.

Having thus set forth the nature of this invention, what is claimed herein is:

1. A buttonhole attachment for a sewing machine having a bed including a work supporting surface formed with a throat and slide plate aperture, a throat plate and a slide plate removably mounted on the bed over the throat and slide plate apertures respectively, work feeding means carried within the bed beneath the plates and including a movable feed-dog, said buttonhole attachment comprising a frame, said frame being removably mounted on the sewing machine bed over a substantial section of thet slide plate aperture, means for holding said frame in place over the slide plate aperture, an elongated shiftable unit mounted on said frame for endwise and lateral movements, said elongated shiftable unit including a work shifting member, means for clamping fabric work material to said work shifting member, said elongated shiftable unit including a rack formed with an aperture having two oppositely disposed side walls and an end wall connecting said two oppositely disposed walls, a row of teeth formed on said walls, an end plate oppositely disposed to said end wall and mounted for limited movement within the lengthwise of the aperture, a row of teeth formed on said end plate, said end plate teeth and the teeth on said walls cooperating to form an endless row of teeth in the general shape of a rectangle, a shaft supported by said frame, a pinion rotatably journaled on said shaft and mounted to mesh with said endless row of teeth, a rotatably mounted ratchet wheel connected to rotate said pinion, means for rotating said ratchet wheel in a stepwise manner, means for driving said last named means including a driving foot mounted for operative engagement with said feed-dog, whereby upon actuation of said feed-dog said ratchet wheel is rotated thereby to rotate said pinion and drive said rack and work shifting member along a closed endless path determined by the rectangularly shaped endless row of teeth and means for adjusting said end plate lengthwise of said rack to adjust the length of the rectangularly shaped endless row of teeth.

2. A buttonhole attachment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said end plate adjusting means includes a fixed jaw and an oppositely disposed movable jaw, means for adjusting said movable jaw relatively to said fiXed jaw, means for supporting a button between said fixed and said movable jaws and means for connecting said movable jaw to said end plate, whereby said end plate is adjusted lengthwise of said walls as said movable jaw is moved relatively to said fixed jaw thereby to adjust the endwise path of said work shifting member and adjust the length of the sewn buttonhole, the button sandwiched between said fixed and movable jaws acting as a gauge of the buttonhole length.

3. A buttonhole attachment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said work shifting member includes a frame formed with an opening and said means for clamping fabric work material includes a groove formed in the inner wall of the frame opening and a resilient wire clamp receivable in said groove.

4. A buttonhole attachment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said work shifting member includes a paddle formed with a substantially rectangular opening to permit passage therethrough of a sewing needle, said means for clamping fabric work material comprising an upper surface of said paddle upon which is formed a plurality of upwardly extending points and a substantially rectangular flat plate formed with an opening which receives a presserfoot in a friction fit for support thereon above the sewing machine bed, whereby said flat plate may be utilized to press fabric work material between the upper surface of the paddle and the fiat plate.

5. A buttonhole attachment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said shaft is formed at its free end with a tracking stud, a rack support plate secured to and positioned beneath said rack, said support plate being formed with a substantialy rectangular opening, said rack support plate being formed with an upwardly facing tracking groove corresponding to the shape of said rack end wall and positioned in the space between said rack side walls, said rack end plate including a lower section slidable within and lengthwise of said support plate opening, said lower section being formed in its upper surface with a tracking groove, said tracking stud being received by said tracking groove as said rack is driven by said pinion.

6. A buttonhole attachment as set forth in claim 1 including snap spring means for holding said elongated shiftable unit in a first lateral position relatively to said frame as said pinion meshes with the teeth formed by one of said oppositely disposed side walls and in a second lateral position relatively to said frame as said pinion meshes with the teeth formed on the other of said oppositely disposed side walls.

7. A buttonhole attachment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means for holding said frame in place over the slide plate aperture includes a pair of feet connected to the bottom of said frame on oppositely disposed sides thereof, a toe member and an oppositely disposed heel member connected to each of said feet, said toe member and said heel member being engageable beneath the throat and slide plates respectively.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,894,467 7/1959 Thomas 11277 3,082,720 3/1963 Sanbe 112l60 XR 3,127,856 4/1964 Taketomi 112-77 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. H. H. HUNTER, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X. R. 112-160 

